The Tigers have secured the last official visit from Champagnat Catholic (Hialeah) defensive tackle Travonte Valentine, a Miami Hurricanes 2014 commitment. Valentine will visit Baton Rouge after playing in the Army All-American Game in San Antonio in January.

Valentine and LSU have a growing mutual interest. Valentine has gone through the recruiting process time and time again; he committed to Louisville and Florida before declaring for the Hurricanes late in the summer. But the Tigers appear to be close behind behind Miami for Valentine's services.

LSU already has two commitments from Florida, 2014 Hallandale High School safety prospect John Battle and 2015 Trinity
Christian (Jacksonville) cornerback Kevin Toliver.

Valentine transferred from Palm Bay High School in Melbourne to Champagnat to attend summer school
and finish his senior year. Champagnat is also the school that LSU cornerback Rashard Robinson
attended post-graduation to get the proper credits he needed to qualify. Robinson, who has played significant minutes for the Tigers as a freshman this season, is actively recruiting
Valentine.

Valentine's
issues are not grade related, contrary to reports. He holds
a 3.0 GPA and is expected to get a qualifying score when he takes the ACT.
Valentine, however, needs to make up extra classes, similar to Robinson.

Valentine
has a unique academic situation that could shape his recruitment. While
he is in line to get all of his core credits by the end of next summer, he will
graduate with only one foreign language class credit. Why is this important? While a lot of schools require a minimum of two foreign language courses to qualify, LSU does not, according to sources.

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James Smith previously worked as a talent evaluator for Elite Scouting and Max Emfinger and has served on the selection committees of various high school All-American games. He can be reached at jsmith2@nola.com or 504.826.3405.